Featured Artist

Moses Dykaar Portrait sculptor, 1884-1933

Dykaar, a Lithuanian-Russian immigrant, had attended drawing school in his native Vilnius, later studying at the prestigious Academie Julian in Paris. Preferring his subjects to be animated while posing.

The same year that Dykaar was awarded the Coolidge commission, his work was exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution's new National Museum in Washington, D.C. (now the Natural History Museum).

Other busts by Dykaar in the Senate are those of Vice Presidents Thomas R. Marshall and Charles Curtis. Also at the U.S. Capitol are Dykaar's busts of House Speakers James "Champ" Clark and Nicholas Longworth.

Information from the United States Senate website.

The sculpture of this esteemed portraitist is particularly remarkable for his masterful sculpting of clothing, maintaining the softmess of the 'suit, collar and tie' and without unecesserey detail, drawing the observer's eye to the portrait. The hair too, tho at times heavily stylised still implies the natural soft mass and form.